BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward will step down as chief executive , thecompany announced Tuesday, amid ongoing outrage over the oil spill in theGulf of Mexico.BP said Hayward will be replaced by American Robert Dudley effective Oct 1.Like Hayward, Dudley is a long-time BP employee with more than 30 years inthe oil business. A chemical engineer by training, Dudley was put in chargeof the day-to-day leadership of the Gulf Coast clean-up operation in June.

‘Bob' started is carrer in Amoco in 1979 then going to BP in 1998, in bothcases his function was superviser exploration activites in Russia, howeverhe had to leave rather abruptly after being acused by the sovietauthoraties of spying.According to BP his biggest advantage is the fact hegrew up in the state of Mississipi were part of the spill acurred.BP said Hayward will receive a year's salary amounting to $1.6 million butfurther details of his severance package were not disclosed.According to BP's most recent annual report, Hayward amassed a pensionworth nearly $17 million in his 28 years of service, which is expected tobe doled out in annual payments of more than $900,000.

The company also plans to nominate him as a non-executive director ofRussian oil and gas venture TNK-BP.There are also plans for Tony Hayward tobe nominated for a executive director position in ExxonMobil Europe Operationsbased in London.

The announcement of the change in leadership came as BP reported asecond-quarter net loss of $17.2 billion. The heavy loss was due to a $32.2billion charge the company took related to the oil disaster.With Dudley based in London, the overseeing of the clean-up effort will beheaded by BP America President Lamar McKay.The company has already committed $20 billion to compensate individuals andbusinesses affected by the spill. But it still could face billions more infines and legal costs associated with the explosion.

The final consumer price for petrol (gasoline) for the motorist in one ofEurope’s oldest economies, Portugal continues to defy all reasonablelogic...Speculation is the method most used by oil companies such as Galp, BP,Repsol and Cepsa, also involved are the government and some local media, acartel of price fixing is used to place the final consumer price the sameall over the country.However there may be a change in the major players in the crude industry,BP is having an immensely challenging period to regain competitiveness internally and externally, they have now spent billions with the US spill, growth will remain subdued for some time, to be sure, BP weakness willbenefit other crude producers as is now the case ...ExxonMobil and Chevron have requested the U.S. government's clearance tomake a bid for BP worth about $150 billion, it was also reported that BP is looking to sell its stake in the United States' largest oil field, the Prudhoe Bay project in Alaska, to boost its clean up fund for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The final consumer price for petrol (gasoline) for the motorist in one of Europe’s oldest economies, Portugal continues to defy all reasonable logic as Prices continue to go up.Speculation is the method most used by oil companies such as Galp, BP, Repsol and Cepsa, also involved are the government and some local media, a cartel of price fixing is used to place the final consumer price the same all over the country.The litre of petrol is at its highest in the last 18 months, this year alone prices have increased 12%.Regular 95 Octane in January 2010 was 1,295 Euros per litre, six months later the same litre has an inflated price of 1,495 Euros.This means that the motorist needs more 5, 05 Euros to fill a 50 litre tank...The last time prices were so inflated was in October 2008.when crude prices reached the $146 per barrel....These ridiculous prices affect all sectors of the crippled economy as there is a direct influence in company budgets as well as the average motorist who has less and less money ..According to World Watch decline in demand this year is expected to fall 16%...